Safety-hook



Patented Mar. I4, I899. A J. CURTIS. SAFETY HOOK.

(Application flied Jul 2a, was) (No Model.)

UNITED STATES ATEN'I @rrrcn.

ANDREW J. CURTIS, OF MONROE, MAINE, ASSIGNOR F ONE-HALF TO CHARLES A. MCKENNEY, OF WINTERPORT, MAINE.

SAFETY-HOOK,

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 621,295, dated March 14, 1899. Application filed July 25, 1898. Serial No. 686,826. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ANDREW J. CURTIS, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Monroe, WValdo county, in the State of Maine, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Safety-Hooks, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to hooks for use in hoisting freight from the holds of vessels in tubs or buckets and for other like work; and its general objects are to render such hooks safe against accidental disengagement from their loads, to facilitate grasping such hooks and disconnecting them by the hand of an operator, and to inclose and protect the working parts within the shank of the hook.

A sheet of drawings accompanies this specification as part thereof.

Figure I of the drawings is a side view of the improved safety-hook with an appended section through the bail of a hoisting tub or bucket, illustrating by full and dotted lines the locking and unlocking positions of the relatively-movable safety attachments. Fig. II is a rear edge View of the same, and Fig. III represents a longitudinal section on the line a: m, Fig. II.

Like letters and numbers refer to like parts in all the figures.

The improved safety-hook in the form shown by the drawings has as its main part a body portion A, which comprises a hook proper, 1, a grip 2 above said hook, a humpshaped guard projection 3 on the back of the body portion immediately below said grip, a suspension-eye 4 at the upper end of the device, and a recess 5 parallel with the sides of the hook. A finger-lever B is pivoted at its upper end within said recess 5 by a screw or rivet 0 and projects along the back of the grip 2, so as to be conveniently grasped, together with the latter, by all the fingers of the hand of the operator.- A latch O is in like manner pivoted within said recess by a screw or rivet 7, and its outer extremity-8 is recessed, so as to partially embrace the point of the hook in its normal position, said latch being adapted to swing back and forth above the hail of a hoisting tub or bucket or above a slinging-rope or the like with which the hook may be engaged, as illustrated by dotted lines in Fig. I. Said finger-lever B and latch O are provided with intermeshing spur-sectors 9 and 10, Fig. III, and a spring D, interlocked with a pair of pins 11 and 12 within the recess 5 and engaging with a notch 13 in said lever B at its pivot end, holds said lever B and latch C in the normal positions in which they are shown in Fig. III and by full lines in Fig. I, so as to render the hook 1 normally locked or closed by said latch.

l/Vh en the grip 2 and the projecting portion of the lever B are grasped by the hand of the operator preparatory to disengaging the hook, said lever B is pressed inward by the fingers against the tension of the spring D and motion is transmitted through said sectors 9 and 10 to the latch 0, so as to open the hook 1 by retracting the latch, as in dotted lines in Fig. I. When the grasp of the hand is relaxed, said spring D, acting through said lever B and sectors 9 and 10, presses the recessed end of the latch 0 into engagement with the point of the hook 1, as in full lines in Fig. I.

The guard projection 3 prevents the accidental retraction of the latch C by the contact of the lever B with a relatively-fixed object when the hook and its load are lowered, and the spring D renders the safety-hook selflocking and adapts it to be quickly engaged with a bail, slinging-rope, or the like in the same manner as an ordinary snap-hook.

A swiveled ring or other preferred suspension device may be substituted for the 'rigid eye 4: of the body portion A. Other known orimproved means may be employed for transmitting motion from the lever B to the latch O. The spring D may be of any approved form, and other like modifications will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art.

I am aware of the snap-hooks set forth in Patent No. 375,571, granted December 27, 1887, to the assignee of John F. Sears and Harry E. Kelley, and Patent No. 380,687, granted April 10, 1888, to John L. Martin, and hereby disclaim these devices as forming nopartof myinvention. Myimprovedsafetyhook is designed exclusively for use in connection with hoisting-tackle in the manner hereinbefore set forth. For this purpose all movable parts must be inclosed to the fullest extent possible, so that the hook as a whole may be safely grasped at any point. It must be secure against being prematurely opened by accidental contacts, and it must at the same time be adapted to be quickly opened by hand, so as to compete in use with the ordinary open hook. All these requirements are met in my hook and they render important the specific constructions and arrangements of parts upon which my respective claims are based.

Having thus described said improvement, I claim as my invention and desire to patent under this specification 1. The combination, in asafety-hook, of a body portion comprising the hook proper and a grip above said hook proper adapted to be grasped by the hand of the operator and havinga recess parallel with the sides of the hook, a finger-lever pivoted at its upper end to said body portion and exposed throughout its length along the back of said grip, a hookclosing latch pivoted to said body portion within said recess and retracted by means of said lever to open the hook, and a spring within said recess which renders the hook normally closed by said latch.

2. The combination, in a safety-hook, of a body portion comprising a hook proper a grip above said hook proper adapted to be grasped by the hand and a guard projection on its back below said grip, a finger-lever pivoted at its upper end to said body portion and exposed throughout its length along the back of said grip above said guard projection, a hook-closing latch pivoted to said body portion and retracted by means of said lever to open the hook, and a spring which renders the hook normally closed by said latch.

3. A safety-hook for hoisting purposes composed of a recessed body portion comprising a hook proper a grip above said hook proper and a suspension device at the upper end of said grip, a hook-closing latch and a fingerlever for retracting said latch, both of which are pivoted within the recess of said body portion and provided therein with interm eshing spur-sectors, and a spring secured Within said recess and acting on said lever to render the hook normally closed by said latch, substantially as hereinbefore specified.

ANDREW J. CURTIS. lVitnesses:

H. B. WINGATE, II. R. DAWSON. 

